Many processes may be used to reduce the size of various materials, these include chopping, cutting, shredding, etc. Depending on the amount of material to be reduced, the nature of the material and the final size desired of the reduced material one process will be chosen over another.
In those instances where relatively small particle sizes are desired and high volumes of material are to be processed shredding is often the method of choice. Most people are familiar with paper shredders or similar devices which utilize reciprocating or counter-rotating blades which interlock one another such that when a material is introduced between the moving blades the material is shredded.
During the course of using these shredding devices it has been found that, due to friction, the temperature of the blades rises significantly. In addition, again due to the mechanical action of the devices, static electricity may be formed on the particles of shredded material themselves, sometimes to rather high electrical potentials.
It is desirable to use these traditional shredding processes to shred certain plastic materials or materials which are sensitive to static electrical charges. However, in view of the above mentioned side effects of such shredding processes such methods are currently impractical.
One approach to solving these problems would be to introduce water or some other coolant into the process to reduce the temperature or the formation of static electricity. However, there are environmental concerns with disposal of such coolants and in those instances where the shredded material is to be recycled the presence of such coolant is undesirable.
Therefore what is needed is a method for shredding such materials while reducing or mitigating the effects of the shredding process byproducts.